The birth of Bangladesh in 1971 came after decades of struggles and a full-blown war for 9 months. After the partition of 1947, Bangladesh became the eastern part of Pakistan, known as East Pakistan. Despite having the larger population speaking Bangla, Mohammad Ali Jinnah of West Pakistan demanded Urdu to be the only national language, completely disregarding the appeal by Bengali representatives. However, on February 21, 1952, the mass outrage gradually turned into a protest carried out by students, journalists, and anyone who was against the linguistic oppression. To break this spirit, the Pakistani leaders ordered a fire. As a result, many brave souls like Salam, Rafiq, Barkat, Jabbar, Shafi were martyred. But for the time being, the Pakistan government had to give in.
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To commemorate this sacrifice, every year on February 21, since 1953, literary journals and magazines have been published including writings by amateur, emerging, and established authors of all ages. And to keep this record of our decades of publications throughout the country, Bangla Academy decided to create a “Sangkalan” or collection of the names of these publications, the publishers whether they're privately owned or a team led project, and the writers who poured their heart and soul to uphold our beloved language and the spirit of the language movement. Moreover, there are many individuals that have safeguarded some of these original pieces for the last few decades and passed them down to their descendants just like family heirlooms. One such person is Aninda Rahman who decided to bring forward the glorious history of our language movement day.
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Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) inaugurated “Sangkalan” on February 20, an exhibition displaying the 21st February special publications and archives in different districts of Bangladesh. The ceremony started with Patriotic speeches by the organisers and guests, followed by everyone including the spectators singing two lines from the song "Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano".
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Aninda Rahman is an experimental film maker. He collected paper cuttings, pamphlets, journals, magazines, illustrations of 21st February from the past 7 decades from his family, friends, and acquaintances. The walls of Gallery Zoom were fully covered with the Bangla Academy archived pages recording half of the publications till today, along with the magazines and ads. The actual quantity is vaster and the curator Aninda said that the exhibition is only the tip of the iceberg.
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In the gallery, I saw Newspapers from the past, filled with illustrations and graphic tributes for the language movement day from different business groups such as Nabisco, Jahaj Marka and Nouka Marka tar, Phoenix Leather Complex, Gawsia Jute Mills Ltd, Bengal Friends and Company Ltd, Roksan Industrial Corporation, Bangladesh Jute Mills Ltd etc. There is also a tiny display of stickers in the shape of “Prabhat Feri”, the procession that used to take place at dawn every year towards the “Shaheed Minar”, the mausoleum for the martyrs until the government set a different hour.
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I have heard my mother who is a sibling to freedom fighters about magazines like Begum, Bichitra, Nabarun etc and witnessing them at the gallery with my own eyes felt like a dream come true. The exhibition not only brings relics from our glorious past but also shows our younger generation the importance of the language movement day that has been internationally recognized by the UNESCO. This exhibition will continue till February 28.
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